If you're a big Resident Evil fan and you watched the new Requiem trailer from today's PlayStation State of Play, you were probably shouting at the screen and pointing at what appears to be recurring character Sherry Birkin, which is definitely super exciting, but I also noticed something different closer to the beginning of the trailer: the Licker zombie, I'm convinced.
Everyone knows Lickers start out as zombies, right? According to official Capcom lore, they're infected with the same T-Virus as regular zombies, but their condition has progressed into something far worse due to a secondary mutation caused by excessive eating of people that causes their heads to get all big and eventually split open. That's why there are different kinds of Lickers across the series, including "evolved" ones in the original Resident Evil 2.
Well, official Resident Evil 2 Remake concept art, unlockable in-game but available to view here via Creative Uncut, revealed scrapped plans to introduce monsters to the game's universe that were essentially zombies in the early stages of mutating into Lickers. I'm convinced those suckers are in Resident Evil Requiem, thanks to this part of the trailer I've timestamped for your convenience:
And here's a screenshot I managed to clip from the trailer along with close-ups of the official concept art:
I get that it's not an exact match, but to me that's clearly an adaptation of the Resident Evil 2 Remake concept art. The creature from the trailer has the same spread-out, glazed-over eyes beginning to give the zombie its trademark blindness, the same sharp teeth, and yes, if you look very closely at the trailer, an elongated tongue. That's an early-stage Licker, and you can't convince me otherwise.
Yes, it's awesome that they're bringing back Sherry because she's a fan-favorite character with a lot of interesting backstory to explore, but I'm also psyched to see a different iteration of one of the most iconic survival horror monsters ever created, especially since Capcom seems to be making good use of some really nice concept art that otherwise would've continued to fade into obscurity. Bring on February 27.
